Demo 3B was given an exclusive chat-only release this past Sunday to an audience of about five :P Despite the disappointing end to Official Demo Day, with only one [very rough] demo released, enthusiasm for the projects is still as high as ever.

Rabid excitement ensued the upload as Acebloke and Seanikins struggled to become the first player to *ever* beat the infamous first battle… and Seanikins came through in fine style, proving once and for all why he’s the game’s number one fan. We’re currently devising a nice prize for him, whilst Acebloke gets nothing for being second, except this piece of advice – if you want to stand a chance next time, try upgrading your computer once every ten years :P

Devlyn is expecting to release SMEE sometime near the end of the month, replete with new features and a brand spanking new interface. As for the other projects, feel free to quiz their creators over at Ye Olde Blah :)

We don’t know when we’ll be uploading the *real* Demo 4, but it won’t be for a while yet. Hate to tease you all like this, but it’ll be worth the wait… just ask Seanikins :)

Yep, now you can finally get your fix of SO goodness, as Devlyn is all set to upload what has been dubbed “Demo 3B”. Although it shares little in common with Demo 3, it’s nowhere near complete enough to be considered as Demo 4, so it sits comfortably somewhere between the two.

Hopefully all graphics problems should be conquered this time around, and the challenge is this – can anyone beat the first battle? We haven’t managed to do it yet…

A lot has to go into the demo for it to be considered complete, so beware that there is much to be added :)

Anyway, I just wanted to say enjoy it, and drop by the Shining Online forum if you have any comments, feedback, criticisms or just general observations :)

You probably won’t be surprised at all by the news that SO work has come grinding to a halt, and as such the demo deadline will not be met by us, but instead by Devlyn who’ll be releasing our early beta (unless he changes his mind, which I doubt :P) – We’ll call it demo3B ;)

Either way, apologies, but university is more important than demo 4 :P

As you know, Demo 4 is going to be released in just over three weeks, and to celebrate we’re hosting an official Shining Online Fan Art competition!

All you have to do is draw and submit your own piece of SOnline fanart and email it to me here. All art will be displayed on the website in a special fan art gallery, and the best piece will be picked by Ty, Hannah [she’ll be here :P] and myself on April 25th, with the winner getting a very special, as-yet unnamed prize. How mysterious!

Rules and regulations.

Please, try to keep pictures small. Ideally, we’d like artwork to be in PNG format, but for anyone who can’t do that, save your work as a BMP file and use WinZip to compress it, then send it along to me.

Feel free to use any available tools, but you Photoshoppers will be marked down for using lens flares without good cause :P

Please, be original! Use your imagination when thinking of situations, landscapes and even characters – we don’t just want a dozen pictures of Cody standing still, put some action in there! Art is as much about imagination as ability.

The decision of the judges is final, but bribes are welcome :P

Finally, have fun, and good luck!

The winner will be picked on April the 25th, 2003. You have until then to email your work to me, so get drawing!